8 September 2008 Xbox Live Arcade Review Round-Up

BAJOIt's a big month for Xbox Live Arcade, following on from the release of our first 10 out of 10 of the season, Braid. And when there's too many games coming out to review...it's roundup time.

GALAGA LEGIONS

JUNGAn arcade favourite comes back with HD graphics in Galaga Legions, but this time there's a twist. Your ship can place 2 satellites to fire in any cardinal direction. Satellites are immune to enemies, the closer they are to the enemy, the faster they fire.

BAJOKilling the leader of a squad will wipe out their whole formation, which is a problem later on when they protect themselves.

JUNGEnemy paths are shown on screen as they warp in, so you can set up your satellites in a good spot, sit back, and watch the ensuing wicked business.

BAJOSatellites become more uber with a captured Galaga, the only powerup in the game...

JUNGAs with Ikaruga, surviving is NOT the same as winning. You can get to the end of the level if you're good, but if you want that all-important high score, you're gunna have to figure out how to work the enemies for the best multiplier before you wipe them all out. I'm giving it 9/10

BAJOLegions does for Galaga what Championship Edition did for Pac-Man, it's another classic improved, and another home run for Namco-Bandai. 8/10 from me.

GEOMETRY WARS RETRO EVOLVED 2

JUNGBizzare's Geometry Wars is back too, with 6 killer game modes, co-op and versus. In addition to the normal mode with limited lives and bombs, there's a timed mode with unlimited lives called Deadline and the new King mode only lets you fire from 'safe zones' that pop up around the map.

BAJOThe Waves mode is back, forcing you to dodge multiple waves of rockets, and Sequence mode is a series of scripted spawns where if you die, you just go to the next area. And my personal favourite, Pacifism mode, which doesn't let you fire any shots and forces you to go through gates to kill enemies.

JUNGEvery mode also offers 2 player, either working together in cooperative, or competing for score in versus. Single player is still where you'll want to spend most of your time, but it's a welcome addition and now you don't have to ignore that annoying 2nd person in the room...

BAJOAs usual, it's all about the points and you'll be checking those leaderboards after every high score. Every death in Geometry Wars feels like a fluke and you always wanna have 1 more go, 8.5/10

JUNGGreat for all colours, shapes & sizes, 9/10

BIONIC COMMANDO REARMED

BAJOAnother re-make massively improving on the original is Bionic Commando: Rearmed, where you can use a robotic arm to climb, swing, grab cover from your enemies or give yourself one hell of a backscratch.

JUNGPlatform verticality is the name of the game here. There's usually a perfect position to be in to take out each kind of enemy and you'll be scratching your head as you figure out how to do this in different conditions, such as a level where the lights turn out.

BAJOA hacking minigame breaks up the action, as does a top-down shoot-em-up that takes place when you're attacked between missions. All up a good well rounded game, and a big nostalgia hit for those who played it on the NES, 8/10

JUNGI liked it, and it throws different kinds of enemies at you to think differently, I don't think I'd spend too much time in it though, 7/10.

CASTLE CRASHERS

BAJOFlash website Newgrounds is jumping on the Live Arcade bandwagon with the hand drawn beat-em-up Castle Crashers. A heavy attack, light attack, jump, block & magic button is all you'll need to smish smash through waves of barbarians, thieves and beasts. But the challenge comes in the form of Castle Crashers' many bosses.

JUNGThe focus is on co-op here, there's a 4 player campaign, both local and online, as well as being able to verse your mates in the arena. As you gain experience, you can upgrade your character in Strength, Defense, Agility or Magic.

BAJOIt holds up ok as a beat-em-up, and they try to give you something new with each level. In fact it reminded me a lot of Battletoads, with the chases and stuff. It's the humour that makes it enjoyable though, enemies doing funny things and outrageous bosses.

JUNGA lot of people are unable to connect to online games at the moment, and there's an issue where the game doesn't save properly. This is unfortunate for a game so focused on co-op, the save issue can sometimes be solved by logging out and then in when you start the game, and the developers have said they'll bring out a patch for online ASAP. But even in single player it's good for a laugh. 6.5/10

BAJOIt's highly replayable, with lots of unlocks and multiplayer options. I quite like the style as well, 7/10.